Quest for Transportation Day 5
Description Welcome to The VFK Transportation Epic Quest Day 5 - Roads and Highways! In early America, a well constructed road could heavily affect the towns it served. A good road provided essential access, especially for towns not located on a waterway. It connected people, goods and ideas. With the transportation revolution of the early 1800's, and as the US's boundaries grew, building roads became an increasingly important activity. For the fifth day of our epic quest for Transportation, we will look at the immeasurably important, but often overlooked, humble road! Your reward for completing this quest will be 1,000 credits, and the Roads and Highways Pin! Prizes Questions 1. The very first roads in the US were only trails. They provided a guide for settlers to follow through the wilderness, and although useful, they were not designed for more than a horse and rider. Early roads were constructed and maintained rather poorly, by towns and counties. By the late 1700's, settlement expanded and Eastern cities needed better roads. What option, considered radical at the time, became the choice for road management? * Federal Road Management * Publicly operated toll roads * Privately operated toll roads * All of the above 2. The publicly administered toll roads called turnpikes, were a pay-as-you-go way of financing the roads, and were formed using British turnpike trusts as the model. Administration of the turnpikes was too demanding for the States however, and they turned it over to private enterprise. The first corporate turnpike was chartered in 1792 connecting Philadelphia and Lancaster. Go to Audubon's Wild Woods and say "Where do I pay the toll for this road?" 3. The corporate turnpikes with rare exception failed to make a profit and the poverty of the turnpikes was well documented. The main reason cited for this problem was that the location of toll gates was set by the legislature and could not be relocated except by separate legislative enactment. This enabled many travelers to bypass the toll gates using an informal route around them called shunpikes. What other issue contributed to the unprofitability of the turnpikes? * Leniency of gatekeepers * Long distance between the toll gates * Toll exemptions * All of the above 4.Early road building was simple, but involved heavy labor. The first task was to clear the path by cutting trees, pulling stumps, removing brush and relocating boulders. This was done by hand or with the help of horses. Next the road was leveled, and then graded. A road could be considered finished at this point, but could erode quickly. Go to the Central Square in Medieval Age and say: "They were mostly dirt roads!" 5. By the late 1800's, roads with hard surfaces were paved with stone, gravel and sand. The origin of modern tarred roads is credited to Thomas Telford and John Loudon McAdam. Telford improved road building with broken stones by raising the road in the center to drain water from the road. McAdam used broken stones covered with small stones as a surface. What was McAdam's road design called? * Unified roads * Symmetrical roads * Patterned roads * Macadam roads 6. By the year 1872, modern asphalt for roads was engineered by Edward de Smedt, who developed a "well-graded," high density asphalt. This new asphalt was applied in 1872 to road surfaces in Battery Park and at Fifth Avenue in New York City. It was also applied in Washington D.C. on Pennsylvania Avenue in 1877. Go to the Victorian Main Street and say: "Take the back roads!" 7. By 1912, there were approximately 2.5 million miles of road in the US. Only 6,000 of those miles were "improved" and the remainder were dusty in dry weather and impassible when it rained. Carl Fisher, who started the successful Indianapolis Motor Speedway, had an idea for a highway which spanned the country from coast to coast. Fisher envisioned the highway being completed in 1915 in time for what significant event? * US Golf Open * Panama-Pacific Exposition * Inauguration of Transcontinental telephone service (NY to SF) * Laying of cornerstone for Lincoln Memorial 8. Seven cars entered the 200 mile road race. Only two cars actually made it to the starting line for the race. The faster car, sponsored by the City of Green Bay, broke down and the Oshkosh car came in first. The average speed of the 200 mile race was 6 mph. The first closed circuit car race was in 1896 in Narragansett Park, RI. Go to Stonehenge and say "Race cars are super fast!" 9. After the Lincoln Highway was built, many other highway organizations were created each promoting their own routes. By 1925, there were over 250 named highways with colored signs. The confusion and lack of coordination between states caused officials of the early state transportation departments to organize what association? * Interstate Highway Commission * American Association of State Highway Officials * Interstate Highway Department * Association of American State Highways 10. In 1957, the numbering format was revealed for the interstate highways. East-West routes would be named with multiples of 10 with the lowest number nearest the Canadian border. The North-South routes that were most important ended in 1 and the long ones that were of lesser importance ended in 5. Go to the inside of the Marshall's office in Western Age and say: "The signs are red, white, and blue shields!" Answers 1. Publicly operated toll roads 2. Go to the Wild Woods in Western Age and say: "I'm crazy about cars." 3. All of the above 4. Go to Central Square in Medieval Age, and say: "They were mostly dirt roads!" 5. Macadam roads 6. Go to Main Street in Victorian Age and say: "Take the back roads!" 7. Panama-Pacific Exposition 8. Go to the Galactic Trading Post in Space Age and say: "It was the first coast to coast road!" 9. American Association of State Highway Officials 10. Go to the Inside Marshall's Office in Western Age and say: "The signs are red, white, and blue shields!" Category:Quests Category:Epic Quests